Communication system, communication device, and computer program

ABSTRACT

According to an embodiment, provided is a communication device that performs communications of an image and audio. The communication device includes: a storage unit that stores therein arrangement information for specifying a display scheme for the image; an arrangement-information setting unit that sets arrangement information in the storage unit; and a display control unit that refers to the arrangement information and causes a plurality of display devices to display the image. The display control unit causes a first display device to display captured images of a local point and a remote point and causes a second display device to display an image supplied from an image supply device of the local point or the remote point.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/828,391, filed Mar. 14, 2013, which claims priority to andincorporates by reference the entire contents of Japanese PatentApplication No. 2012-065917, filed in Japan on Mar. 22, 2012 andJapanese Patent Application No. 2012-251013, filed in Japan on Nov. 15,2012.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a communication system that performsvideo and audio communications, and in more detail to a communicationsystem, a communication device, and a computer program that performvideo and audio communications among a plurality of points.

2. Description of the Related Art

Along with the recent spread of networks that enable high-speed datacommunications such as the Internet, widely used is video conferencingfor conducting a conference and the like by distributing video and audioamong a plurality of points distant from one another.

As an embodiment of communication systems that realize such videoconferencing, U.S. Pat. No. 6,760,749 discloses a content distributiondevice that displays a captured image of a remote point on a displaydevice of a local point and that displays a material image used in aconference and the like on the display device.

There is a need to provide a communication system, a communicationdevice, and a computer program that increase the visibility of an imagedisplayed on a display device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve theproblems in the conventional technology.

According to an embodiment, provided is a communication device thatperforms communications of an image and audio. The communication deviceincludes: a storage unit that stores therein arrangement information forspecifying a display scheme for the image; an arrangement-informationsetting unit that sets arrangement information in the storage unit; anda display control unit that refers to the arrangement information andcauses a plurality of display devices to display the image. The displaycontrol unit causes a first display device to display captured images ofa local point and a remote point and causes a second display device todisplay an image supplied from an image supply device of the local pointor the remote point.

According to another embodiment, provided is a communication system thatincludes: a communication device that performs communications of animage and audio; and an image supply device that supplies an image tothe communication device. The communication device includes: a storageunit that stores therein arrangement information for specifying adisplay scheme for an image; an arrangement-information setting unitthat sets arrangement information in the storage unit; and a displaycontrol unit that refers to the arrangement information and causes aplurality of display devices to display the image. The display controlunit causes a first display device to display captured images of a localpoint and a remote point and causes a second display device to displayan image supplied from the image supply device of the local point or theremote point.

According to still another embodiment, provided is a computer programproduct that includes a non-transitory computer usable medium havingcomputer readable program codes embodied in the medium that, whenexecuted, causes a communication device to perform a communicationmethod of an image and audio. The communication method includes: settingarrangement information for specifying a display scheme for an imageinto a storage unit; and referring to the arrangement information,causing a first display device to display captured images of a localpoint and a remote point, and causing a second display device to displayan image supplied from an image supply device of the local point or theremote point.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical andindustrial significance of this invention will be better understood byreading the following detailed description of presently preferredembodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of a communication system according to anembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of a communicationdevice 10 a according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a functional configuration of thecommunication device 10 a according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of detection processing for a display deviceperformed by a communication device according to the embodiment atstart-up;

FIG. 5 is a view of a display scheme and an arrangement informationtable employed when one display device in an electrified state isconnected to the communication device 10 a according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a view of the display scheme and the arrangement informationtable employed when two display devices in an electrified state areconnected to the communication device 10 a according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a view of screens of the display devices based on screendivision and arrangement information illustrated in FIG. 6 according tothe embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a view of the display scheme and the arrangement informationtable employed when two display devices in an electrified state areconnected to the communication device 10 a according to anotherembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a view of screens of the display devices based on screendivision and arrangement information illustrated in FIG. 8 according tothe embodiment; and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of detection processing for a display deviceperformed by the communication device according to the embodiment afterstart-up.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments are described below. The embodiments are notintended to limit the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic of a communication system according to anembodiment. A communication system 100 includes communication devices 10a to 10 h, display devices 20 a to 20 h and 22 a to 22 h, image supplydevices 30 a to 30 h, and a communication management device 40.

The communication devices 10 a to 10 h perform communications of imagesand audio with communication devices 10 a to 10 h of remote points. Thecommunication devices 10 a to 10 h display images and output audio tothe display devices 20 a to 20 h and 22 a to 22 h connected to thecommunication devices 10 a to 10 h respectively. The communicationdevices 10 a to 10 h transmit an image and audio of a local point to thecommunication management device 40 via routers 50 and a network 60.Furthermore, the communication devices 10 a to 10 h receive an image ofa remote point from the communication management device 40. Thecommunication devices 10 a to 10 h display the image of the local pointand the image of the remote point, and output audio of the remote pointto the display devices 20 a to 20 h and 22 a to 22 h respectively.

While the communication devices 10 a to 10 h output images to thedisplay devices 20 a to 20 h and 22 a to 22 h respectively by wiredcommunications in the present embodiment, they may output the images tothe display devices by wireless communications in another embodiment.Furthermore, while two display devices are connected to onecommunication device in the present embodiment, three or more displaydevices may be connected to one communication device in anotherembodiment. In still another embodiment, the communication device mayhave one or more built-in display devices and be compatible with a dualdisplay.

The image supply devices 30 a to 30 h supply an image to thecommunication devices 10 a to 10 h connected thereto, respectively. Theimage supply devices 30 a to 30 h supply an image displayed on displaydevices of the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h to the communicationdevices 10 a to 10 h, respectively. Examples of the image supplied fromthe image supply devices 30 a to 30 h include various images, such as amaterial image created by using word-processing software, spreadsheetsoftware, and presentation software; a desktop screen of the imagesupply devices 30 a to 30 h; and user interface (UI) of an applicationprogram. In FIG. 1, desktop personal computers (PCs) are connected tothe communication devices 10 a to 10 h as the image supply devices 30 ato 30 h, respectively. Instead of such desktop PCs, notebook PCs, tabletPCs such as iPad (registered trademark), and smartphones equipped withiPhone (registered trademark) and Android (registered trademark) may bepreferably used as the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h, for example.

The communication management device 40 manages data communications inthe communication system 100. The communication management device 40establishes sessions among the communication devices 10 a to 10 h of aplurality of points to relay an image and audio of each of thecommunication devices 10 a to 10 h.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of thecommunication device 10 a according to the embodiment. The hardwareconfiguration of the communication device 10 a will be described belowwith reference to FIG. 2. Because the hardware configurations of theother communication devices 10 b to 10 h are the same as that of thecommunication device 10 a, explanations thereof are to be omitted.

The communication device 10 a includes a central processing unit (CPU)201, a read-only memory (ROM) 202, a random access memory (RAM) 203, asolid state drive (SSD) 204, and a media drive 206. These devices areconnected via a data bus 209.

The CPU 201 is a processor that controls the entire operation of thecommunication device 10 a. The ROM 202 is a storage device in which acomputer program of the present embodiment is stored. The RAM 203 is astorage device that provides an execution area for the computer programof the present embodiment. By loading the computer program described ina programming language, such as assembler, C, C++, Java (registeredtrademark), JavaScript (registered trademark), PERL, RUBY, and PYTHON onthe RAM 203 and by executing the computer program under the control ofan operating system (OS), such as WINDOWS (registered trademark) series,Mac (registered trademark) OS, UNIX (registered trademark), and LINUX(registered trademark), the communication device 10 a realizes eachfunctional unit, which will be described later, on the communicationdevice 10 a.

The SSD 204 includes a non-volatile memory (not illustrated) such as aflash memory that stores therein various types of data of an image andaudio and electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), andcontrols reading or writing of the various types of data from or to theflash memory. The media drive 206 is a device into which a recordingmedium 205, such as a flash memory, can be inserted and controls readingor writing of data from or to the recording medium 205.

The communication device 10 a further includes an operation button 207,a power switch 208, a network interface (I/F) 210, an image capturingelement I/F 212, an audio input-output I/F 215, a display device I/F216, a display device I/F 217, and an external device I/F 218. Thesedevices are connected via the data bus 209.

The operation button 207 is an input device that selects a communicationdevice of a remote point with which a session is to be established andperforms various settings. The power switch 208 switches ON and OFF thepower of the communication device 10 a The network I/F 210 is aninterface that provides a connection to the router 50 and performs datacommunications via the network 60.

The image capturing element I/F 212 is an interface to which a chargecoupled device (CCD) 211 that captures a subject to generate an image isconnected and controls the CCD 211 to generate an image. While a CCD isemployed as an image capturing element in the present embodiment,another image capturing element, such as a complementary metal oxidesemiconductor (CMOS), may be employed.

The audio input-output I/F 215 is an interface to which a microphone 213and a speaker 214 are connected and receives and outputs an audio signalfrom the microphone 213 and to the speaker 214. The display device I/F216 is an interface to which the display device 20 a is connected andoutputs an image to the display device 20 a. The display device I/F 217is an interface to which the display device 22 a is connected andoutputs an image to the display device 22 a.

The display devices 20 a and 22 a display various images output from thecommunication device 10 a. The external device I/F 218 is an interfaceto which the image supply device 30 a is connected and receives an imagefrom the image supply device 30 a.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a functional configuration of thecommunication device 10 a according to the embodiment. The functionalconfiguration of the communication device 10 a will be described belowwith reference to FIG. 3. Because the functional configurations of theother communication devices 10 b to 10 h are the same as that of thecommunication device 10 a, explanations thereof will be omitted.

The communication device 10 a includes a control unit 300, atransmitting and receiving unit 302, an operation receiving unit 304,and an image capturing unit 306.

The control unit 300 is a functional unit that collectively controlsprocessing performed by the communication device 10 a. The control unit300 performs various processing using functional units, which will bedescribed later.

The transmitting and receiving unit 302 is a functional unit thatperforms communications with the communication management device 40 orthe image supply device 30 a and is realized by the network I/F 210 andthe external device I/F 218.

The operation receiving unit 304 is a functional unit that receivesvarious types of operating instructions issued by a user. If the userturns ON the power switch 208 for example, a power-on instruction isissued. When receiving the instruction, the operation receiving unit 304turns ON the power of the communication device 10 a. Furthermore, if theuser changes a display scheme of the display devices 20 a to 20 h and 22a to 22 h with the operation button 207, a display scheme changeinstruction is issued. When receiving the instruction, the operationreceiving unit 304 causes an arrangement-information setting unit 314 tostore the display scheme (e.g., “VIEW_MULTI” and “SHARED_MULTI”)specified by the user in a storage unit 310 as setting information forspecifying the display scheme of the display device (hereinafter,referred to as “display-scheme setting information”). The display schemeaccording to the present embodiment will be described later in greaterdetail with reference to FIG. 5.

The image capturing unit 306 is a functional unit that captures asubject to generate an image and is realized by the CCD 211 and theimage capturing element I/F 212. If the communication device 10 astarts, the image capturing unit 306 generates a captured image.

The communication device 10 a further includes a memory control unit308, the storage unit 310, the arrangement-information setting unit 314,a display control unit 316, a display-device detecting unit 318, anaudio input unit 320, and an audio output unit 322.

The memory control unit 308 is a unit that controls the storage unit310. The memory control unit 308 stores various types of data in thestorage unit 310 and reads various types of data stored in the storageunit 310.

The arrangement-information setting unit 314 is a functional unit thatsets arrangement information and display-scheme setting information forspecifying a display scheme for an image to be displayed on the displaydevices 20 a to 20 h and 22 a to 22 h. The arrangement-informationsetting unit 314 sets the arrangement information in an arrangementinformation table 312 in the storage unit 310. Furthermore, thearrangement-information setting unit 314 stores the display-schemesetting information in the storage unit 310.

The display control unit 316 is a functional unit that controls thedisplay devices 20 a to 20 h and 22 a to 22 h. By using thedisplay-scheme setting information stored in the storage unit 310 andthe arrangement information registered in the arrangement informationtable 312, the display control unit 316 specifies images to be displayedon the display device. In accordance with predetermined screen division,the display control unit 316 displays the images on the display devices20 a and 22 a.

The images to be displayed on the display devices 20 a and 22 a includean image captured by the image capturing unit 306 of the communicationdevices 10 a to 10 h of the local point or the remote point(hereinafter, referred to as a “captured image”) and an image suppliedfrom the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h of the local point or theremote point.

The audio input unit 320 is a functional unit that detects audio, suchas speech of the user, to generate an audio signal. Furthermore, theaudio input unit 320 converts audio of the user into an audio signal andmeasures the intensity of the audio signal. If the intensity is equal toor higher than a predetermined threshold, the audio input unit 320detects speech of the user. The audio output unit 322 is a functionalunit that converts an audio signal into audio and outputs the audio.

The display-device detecting unit 318 detects a display device in anelectrified state connected to the communication device 10 a. Thedisplay-device detecting unit 318 detects an electrified state ofdisplay devices connected to the display device I/F 216 and 217 with agraphics driver serving as a device driver of the display devices andcounts the number of display devices in an electrified state. In thepresent embodiment, by using an application programming interface (API)function provided by WINDOWS (registered trademark) OS and the graphicsdriver, the display-device detecting unit 318 counts the number ofdisplay devices in an electrified state.

If the power of the communication device 10 a is turned ON, the controlunit 300 performs detection processing for a display device, which willbe described later, and causes the image capturing unit 306 to generatea captured image. If the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h are connectedto the communication devices 10 a to 10 h respectively, the control unit300 causes the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h to display a menuscreen, thereby enabling image supply.

In accordance with an instruction issued by the user, the control unit300 requests the communication management device 40 to establish asession with a communication device of a remote point. If the session isestablished, the control unit 300 transmits the captured image of thelocal point generated by the image capturing unit 306 and the imagesupplied from the image supply device 30 a to the communication deviceof the remote point via the communication management device 40.Furthermore, if an image is received from the communication device ofthe remote point, the control unit 300 displays the image on the displaydevices 20 a and 22 a. Moreover, if the image supply devices 30 a to 30h are connected to the communication devices 10 a to 10 h respectively,and the user selects a sharing start button on the menu screen displayedon the image supply devices, the control unit 300 acquires an image fromthe image supply devices 30 a to 30 h.

If speech of the user is detected, the control unit 300 adds informationindicating that the user is making speech (hereinafter, referred to as“speech information”) to the captured image and transmits the capturedimage to the communication management device 40. If a captured image towhich speech information is added is received from the remote point, thecontrol unit 300 changes the arrangement information in the arrangementinformation table 312 such that the captured image is displayed in apredetermined display area on the display devices 20 a and 22 a.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of detection processing for a display deviceperformed by the communication device according to the presentembodiment at start-up. The detection processing for a display deviceperformed when the power of the communication device 10 a is turned ONwill now be described with reference to FIG. 4.

The processing illustrated in FIG. 4 starts with turning ON the power ofthe communication device 10 a at Step S400. At Step S401, thedisplay-device detecting unit 318 initializes a variable (ACTIVE) storedin the RAM 203 to 0. At Step S402, the display-device detecting unit 318counts the number of display devices in an electrified state among thedisplay devices connected to the communication device 10 a and sets thenumber to the variable (ACTIVE). At Step S403, thearrangement-information setting unit 314 determines whether the value ofthe variable (ACTIVE) is 0. If the value of the variable (ACTIVE) is 0(Yes), the system control is returned to Step S402. By contrast, if thevalue of the variable (ACTIVE) is not 0 (No), the system control goes toStep S404.

At Step S404, the arrangement-information setting unit 314 determinesthe value of the variable (ACTIVE). If the value of the variable(ACTIVE) is 1, that is, if one display device in an electrified state isconnected, the system control goes to Step S405. At Step S405, thearrangement-information setting unit 314 sets arrangement information inFIG. 5 employed when one display device is connected in the arrangementinformation table. The processing is then terminated at Step S407.

By contrast, if the value of the variable (ACTIVE) is 2, that is, if twodisplay devices in an electrified state are connected, the systemcontrol goes to Step S406. At Step S406, the arrangement-informationsetting unit 314 sets arrangement information in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8employed when two display devices are connected in the arrangementinformation table. The processing is then terminated at Step S407.

FIG. 5 is a view of the display scheme and the arrangement informationtable employed when one display device in an electrified state isconnected to the communication device 10 a according to the embodiment.An explanation will be made of screen division 500 and an arrangementinformation table 502 of a display device employed when one displaydevice in an electrified state is connected to the communication device10 a with reference to FIG. 5.

The screen division 500 is screen division of the display deviceconnected to the communication device 10 a. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 5, the display area of the display device is dividedin four, and the area of a display area 1 is larger than those of theother display areas 2 to 4.

In the arrangement information table 502, registered are a displayscheme of images to be displayed on the display device andidentification information of the images to be displayed on the displayareas of the display device in a manner associated with each other asthe arrangement information employed, when one display device in anelectrified state is connected to the communication device 10 a.

Examples of the display scheme according to the present embodimentinclude “VIEW_MULTI” and “SHARED_MULTI”. “VIEW_MULTI” is a scheme fordisplaying captured images of the local point and the remote point inthe communication devices 10 a to 10 h. “SHARED_MULTI” is a scheme fordisplaying an image supplied from the image supply devices 30 a to 30 hin addition to the captured images of the local point and the remotepoint. In the present embodiment, the display scheme is specified by theuser and stored in the storage unit 310 as the display-scheme settinginformation.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, if the display scheme is“VIEW_MULTI”, the captured image of the remote point is displayed on thedisplay area 1, and the captured image of the local point is displayedon the display area 2. By contrast, if the display scheme is“SHARED_MULTI”, a material image is displayed on the display area 1, thecaptured image of the remote point is displayed on the display area 2,and the captured image of the local point is displayed on the displayarea 3.

In another embodiment, the display scheme may not be switched between“VIEW_MULTI” and “SHARED_MULTI” by a user command as in the presentembodiment. Alternatively, the communication devices 10 a to 10 h mayswitch the display schemes by detecting the fact that image supplyperformed by the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h is started.

Specifically, the communication devices 10 a to 10 h detect an explicitnotification from the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h, respectively,indicating start of communications and start of image supply in aspecific application port for example, and automatically switch thedisplay scheme from “VIEW_MULTI” to “SHARED_MULTI”. If the image supplyperformed by the image supply devices 30 a to 30 h is finished orinterrupted, the communication devices 10 a to 10 h switch the displayscheme from “SHARED_MULTI” to “VIEW_MULTI”. Thus, it is possible to savethe operation performed by the user and to perform stream processing ofa supplied image more efficiently.

More specifically, if the transmitting and receiving unit 302 of thecommunication devices 10 a to 10 h receives an image from the imagesupply devices 30 a to 30 h, respectively, the control unit 300 issuesan image supply start event notifying that image supply performed by theimage supply devices is started. If the image supply start event isdetected, the arrangement-information setting unit 314 sets“SHARED_MULTI” as the display-scheme setting information. The displaycontrol unit 316 then refers to the arrangement information table anddisplays the material image and the captured images on the displaydevices 20 a and 20 b in accordance with the arrangement informationassociated with the display-scheme setting information “SHARED_MULTI”.

If the image supply performed by the image supply devices 30 a to 30 his stopped, the control unit 300 issues an image supply stop eventnotifying that the image supply performed by the image supply devices isstopped. If the image supply stop event is detected, thearrangement-information setting unit 314 switches the display-schemesetting information from “SHARED_MULTI” to “VIEW_MULTI”. The displaycontrol unit 316 then refers to the arrangement information table anddisplays the captured image on the display devices 20 a and 20 b inaccordance with the arrangement information associated with thedisplay-scheme setting information “VIEW_MULTI”.

While the screen of the display device is divided into four displayareas in the present embodiment, the screen may be divided into threedisplay areas or five or more display areas in another embodiment.Furthermore, while the arrangement information according to the presentembodiment is arrangement information employed when an image is sharedby two points, the present embodiment can be applied to the case wherean image is shared by three or more points.

If an image is shared by three or more points and the display scheme“VIEW_MULTI” is specified, the arrangement information is changed suchthat the captured image of the remote point to be focused by the user,that is, the captured image of the point at which speech is detected isdisplayed on the display area 1. Thus, it is possible to display thecaptured image of the point at which the user is making speech on thedisplay area 1.

FIG. 6 is a view of the display scheme and the arrangement informationtable employed when two display devices in an electrified state areconnected to the communication device 10 a according to the embodiment.An explanation will be made of screen divisions 600 and 602 and anarrangement information table 604 of display devices when two displaydevices in an electrified state are connected to the communicationdevice 10 a with reference to FIG. 6.

The screen division 600 is screen division of a first display deviceconnected to the communication device 10 a. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 6, the display area of the display device is dividedin four, and the area of a display area 1 is larger than those of theother display areas 2 to 4. The screen division 602 is screen divisionof a second display device connected to the communication device 10 aand is composed of one display area.

In the arrangement information table 604, a display scheme of images tobe displayed on the first display device and the second display deviceand identification information of the images to be displayed on thedisplay areas of the display devices are registered in a mannerassociated with each other as the arrangement information employed whentwo display devices in an electrified state are connected to thecommunication device 10 a.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, if the display scheme is“VIEW_MULTI”, the captured image of the remote point is displayed on thedisplay area 1 of the first display device, and the captured image ofthe local point is displayed on the display area 2 of the first displaydevice. By contrast, no image is displayed on the display area 1 of thesecond display device.

If the display scheme is “SHARED_MULTI”, the captured image of theremote point is displayed on the display area 1 of the first displaydevice, and the captured image of the local point is displayed on thedisplay area 2 of the first display device. Furthermore, a materialimage is displayed on the display area 1 of the second display device.

While the screen of the display device is divided into four displayareas in the present embodiment, the screen may be divided into threedisplay areas or five or more display areas in another embodiment.Furthermore, while the arrangement information according to the presentembodiment is arrangement information employed when an image is sharedby two points, the present embodiment can be applied to the case wherean image is shared by three or more points. If an image is shared bythree or more points, the arrangement information is changed such thatthe captured image of the remote point to be focused by the user, thatis, the captured image of the point at which speech is detected isdisplayed on the display area 1 of the first display device. Thus, it ispossible to display the captured image of the point at which the user ismaking speech on the display area.

In the present embodiment, the captured images of the local point andthe remote point are displayed on the first display device; and animage, such as a material image, supplied from the image supply devices30 a to 30 h is displayed on the second display device. Therefore, it ispossible to increase the visibility of these images.

FIG. 7 is a view of screens of the display devices based on the screendivision and the arrangement information illustrated in FIG. 6 accordingto the embodiment. A screen 700 and a screen 706 are the screen of thefirst display device and the screen of the second display device,respectively, when the display scheme “VIEW_MULTI” is selected. Thecaptured image of the remote point is displayed on a display area 702 ofthe screen 700, and the captured image of the local point is displayedon a display area 704. No image is displayed on the screen 706.

A screen 710 and a screen 716 are the screen of the first display deviceand the screen of the second display device, respectively, when thedisplay scheme “SHARED_MULTI” is selected. The captured image of theremote point is displayed on a display area 712 of the screen 710, andthe captured image of the local point is displayed on a display area714. Furthermore, a material image is displayed on the screen 716.

FIG. 8 is a view of the display scheme and the arrangement informationtable employed when two display devices in an electrified state areconnected to the communication device 10 a according to an anotherembodiment. An explanation will be made of screen divisions 800 and 802and an arrangement information table 804 of display devices employedwhen two display devices in an electrified state are connected to thecommunication device 10 a with reference to FIG. 8.

The screen division 800 is screen division of the first display deviceconnected to the communication device 10 a. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 8, the display area of the display device is dividedin four. The screen division 802 is screen division of the seconddisplay device connected to the communication device 10 a and iscomposed of one display area. While the screen of the display device isdivided into four display areas in the present embodiment, the screenmay be divided into three display areas or five or more display areas inanother embodiment.

In the arrangement information table 804, a display scheme of images tobe displayed on the first display device and the second display deviceand identification information of the images to be displayed on thedisplay areas of the display devices are registered in a mannerassociated with each other as the arrangement information employed whentwo display devices in an electrified state are connected to thecommunication device 10 a.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, if the display scheme is“VIEW_MULTI”, the captured image of the local point is displayed on thedisplay area 1 of the first display device, and the captured image ofthe remote point is displayed on the display area 1 of the seconddisplay device.

If the display scheme is “SHARED_MULTI”, the captured image of theremote point is displayed on the display area 1 of the first displaydevice; and the captured image of the local point is displayed on thedisplay area 2 of the first display device. Furthermore, a materialimage is displayed on the display area 1 of the second display device.

While the arrangement information according to the present embodiment isarrangement information employed when an image is shared by two points,the present embodiment can be applied to the case where an image isshared by three or more points. In this case, if the display scheme“VIEW_MULTI” is specified, the arrangement information is changed suchthat the captured image of the remote point to be focused by the user,that is, the captured image of the point at which speech is detected isdisplayed on the second display device. Thus, it is possible to displaythe captured image of the point at which the user is making speech onthe second display device and to display the captured images of theother points on the first display device.

In the present embodiment, the captured images are displayed on thefirst display device, and an image, such as a material image, suppliedfrom the image supply device is displayed on the second display device.Therefore, it is possible to increase the visibility of these images.Furthermore, because the captured image of the remote position to befocused is displayed on the display device formed of one display area,it is possible to increase the visibility of the image.

FIG. 9 is a view of screens of the display devices based on the screendivision and the arrangement information illustrated in FIG. 8 accordingto the embodiment. A screen 900 and a screen 906 are the screen of thefirst display device and the screen of the second display device,respectively, employed when the display scheme “VIEW_MULTI” is selected.The captured image of the local point is displayed on a display area 902of the screen 900; and the captured image of the remote point isdisplayed on the screen 906.

A screen 910 and a screen 916 are the screen of the first display deviceand the screen of the second display device, respectively, employed whenthe display scheme “SHARED_MULTI” is selected. The captured image of theremote point is displayed on a display area 912 of the screen 910; andthe captured image of the local point is displayed on a display area914. Furthermore, a material image is displayed on the screen 916.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of detection processing for a display deviceperformed by the communication device according to the embodiment afterstart-up. The detection processing for a display device performed afterstart-up of the communication device 10 a will now be described withreference to FIG. 10.

The processing illustrated in FIG. 10 is started at Step S1000. At StepS1001, the display-device detecting unit 318 determines whether anelectrification change event issued from the OS of the communicationdevice 10 a by detecting an electrified state of the display devices 20a to 20 h and 22 a to 22 h is received. If no electrification changeevent is received (No), the processing at Step S1001 is repeated. Bycontrast, if an electrification change event is received (Yes), thesystem control goes to Step S1002.

At Step S1002, the display-device detecting unit 318 initializes avariable (ACTIVE) stored in the RAM 203 to 0. At Step S1003, thedisplay-device detecting unit 318 counts the number of display devicesin an electrified state among the display devices connected to thecommunication device 10 a and sets the number to the variable (ACTIVE).At Step S1004, the arrangement-information setting unit 314 determineswhether the value of the variable (ACTIVE) is 0. If the value of thevariable (ACTIVE) is 0 (Yes), the system control is returned to StepS1003. By contrast, if the value of the variable (ACTIVE) is not 0 (No),the system control goes to Step S1005.

At Step S1005, the arrangement-information setting unit 314 determinesthe value of the variable (ACTIVE). If the value of the variable(ACTIVE) is 1, that is, if one display device in an electrified state isconnected, the system control goes to Step S1006. At Step S1006, thearrangement-information setting unit 314 sets arrangement information inFIG. 5 employed when one display device is connected in the arrangementinformation table. The processing is then terminated at Step S1008.

By contrast, if the value of the variable (ACTIVE) is 2, that is, if twodisplay devices in an electrified state are connected, the systemcontrol goes to Step S1007. At Step S1007, the arrangement-informationsetting unit 314 sets arrangement information in FIG. 6 or FIG. 8employed when two display devices are connected in the arrangementinformation table. The processing is then terminated at Step S1008.

With the processing described above, the communication device 10 a candetect display devices that come into an electrified state by beingconnected to the communication device 10 a or turning ON the power ofthe display devices after the communication device 10 a starts. As aresult, it is possible to display an image on these display devices.

While the present embodiment has been described, the embodimentdescribed above is not intended to limit the present invention. Variouschanges, such as modifications or omissions of the components in thepresent embodiment or additions of other components to the components inthe present embodiment, may be made in a manner conceivable by thoseskilled in the art. Any aspects would fall within the scope and spiritof the inventions as long as they realize the advantageous effects ofthe present invention.

The computer program realizing the functional units described aboveaccording to the embodiments may be provided in a manner recorded in acomputer-readable recording medium, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) acompact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a magneto-optical disk (MO), aflexible disk (FD), an EEPROM, and an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM)and may be distributed over a network as a file in an installableformat.

With the configuration described above, the communication deviceaccording to the embodiment can increase the visibility of an imagedisplayed on a display device.

The present invention can be implemented in any convenient form, forexample using dedicated hardware, or a mixture of dedicated hardware andsoftware. The present invention may be implemented as computer softwareimplemented by one or more network processing apparatus. The network cancomprise any conventional terrestrial or wireless communicationsnetwork, such as the Internet. The processing apparatus can compromiseany suitably programmed apparatuses such as a general purpose computer,personal digital assistant, mobile telephone (such as a WAP or3G-compliant phone) and so on. Since the present invention can beimplemented as software, each and every aspect of the present inventionthus encompasses computer software implemental on a programmable device.The computer software can be provided to the programmable device usingany storage medium for storing processor readable code such as a floppydisk, hard disk, CD ROM, magnetic tape device or solid state memorydevice.

The hardware platform includes any desired kind of hardware resourcesincluding, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a random accessmemory (RAM), and a hard disk drive (HDD). The CPU may be implemented byany desired kind of any desired number of processor. The RAM may beimplemented by any desired kind of volatile or non-volatile memory. TheHDD may be implemented by any desired kind of non-volatile memorycapable of storing a large amount of data. The hardware resources mayadditionally include an input device, an output device, or a networkdevice, depending on the type of the apparatus. Alternatively, the HDDmay be provided outside of the apparatus as long as the HDD isaccessible. In this example, the CPU, such as a cache memory of the CPU,and the RAM may function as a physical memory or a primary memory of theapparatus, while the HDD may function as a secondary memory of theapparatus.

Although the invention has been described with respect to specificembodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein setforth.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication device, comprising: a firstinterface configured to connect to a first display via wiredcommunication; a second interface configured to connect to a seconddisplay via wired communication; a third interface configured to connectto an image capturing device; a transmitting and receiving circuitconfigured to transmit data of a first captured image captured by theimage capturing device to another device, receive data of a secondcaptured image transmitted from the other device, and receive data of amaterial image supplied from the other device; and processing circuitryconfigured to repeatedly monitor whether a change in an electrifiedstate of the first and second displays has occurred, and whendetermining that the change has occurred, determine which of the firstdisplay and the second display are physically connected to thecommunication device via wired communication and in an electrifiedstate; when determining that only one of the first display and thesecond display is physically connected to the communication device viawired communication and in the electrified state, display the firstcaptured image, the second captured image, and the material image on thefirst display or the second display connected to the communicationdevice; and when determining that both the first display and the seconddisplay are physically connected to the communication device via wiredcommunication and in the electrified state, display the first capturedimage and the second captured image on the first display, and displaythe material image on the second display.
 2. The communication deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to determine which of the first display and the seconddisplay are physically connected to the communication device via wiredcommunication based on corresponding electrified states of the firstdisplay and the second display.
 3. The communication device of claim 1,wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determinewhether supply of the material image from the other device has started;when determining that only one of the first display and the seconddisplay is physically connected to the communication device via wiredcommunication and in the electrified state, and the supply of thematerial images has started, display the first captured image, thesecond captured image, and the material image on the first display orthe second display connected to the communication device; and whendetermining that both the first display and the second display arephysically connected to the communication device via wired communicationand in the electrified state and the supply of the material images hasnot started, display the first captured image on the first display, anddisplay the second captured image on the second display.
 4. Thecommunication device of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry isfurther configured to determine whether the supply of the material imagefrom the other device has started based on a notification received fromthe other device via a specific port of the communication device.
 5. Acommunication method executed by a communication device including afirst interface configured to connect to a first display via wiredcommunication, a second interface configured to connect to a seconddisplay via wired communication, and a third interface configured toconnect to an image capturing device, the method comprising:transmitting data of a first captured image captured by the imagecapturing device to another device, receive data of a second capturedimage transmitted from the other device, and receive data of a materialimage supplied from the other device; and repeatedly monitoring whethera change in an electrified state of the first and second displays hasoccurred, and when determining that the change has occurred, determiningwhich of the first display and the second display are physicallyconnected to the communication device via wired communication and in anelectrified state; when determining that only one of the first displayand the second display is physically connected to the communicationdevice via wired communication and in the electrified state, displayingthe first captured image, the second captured image, and the materialimage on the first display or the second display connected to thecommunication device; and when determining that both the first displayand the second display are physically connected to the communicationdevice via wired communication and in the electrified state, displayingthe first captured image and the second captured image on the firstdisplay, and displaying the material image on the second display.
 6. Thecommunication method according to claim 5, further comprisingdetermining which of the first display and the second display arephysically connected to the communication device via wired communicationbased on corresponding electrified states of the first display and thesecond display.
 7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing aprogram, wherein the program, when executed by a computer that controlsa communication device that includes a first interface configured toconnect to a first display via wired communication, a second interfaceconfigured to connect to a second display via wired communication, and athird interface configured to connect to an image capturing device,causes the computer to execute a method comprising: transmitting data ofa first captured image captured by the image capturing device to anotherdevice, receive data of a second captured image transmitted from theother device, and receive data of a material image supplied from theother device; and repeatedly monitoring whether a change in anelectrified state of the first and second displays has occurred, andwhen determining that the change has occurred, determining which of thefirst display and the second display are physically connected to thecommunication device via wired communication and in an electrifiedstate; when determining that only one of the first display and thesecond display is physically connected to the communication device viawired communication and in the electrified state, displaying the firstcaptured image, the second captured image, and the material image on thefirst display or the second display connected to the communicationdevice; and when determining that both the first display and the seconddisplay are physically connected to the communication device via wiredcommunication and in the electrified state, displaying the firstcaptured image and the second captured image on the first display, anddisplaying the material image on the second display.
 8. Thecomputer-readable medium according to claim 7, wherein the methodfurther comprises determining which of the first display and the seconddisplay are physically connected to the communication device via wiredcommunication based on corresponding electrified states of the firstdisplay and the second display.